SANDF sick leave costing SA
2003-09-16 21:35
Pretoria - The Freedom Front on Tuesday expressed concern at the state of health within the SA National Defence Force as portrayed by its latest annual report.
Said FF defence spokesperson Pieter Groenewald: "The fact that nearly half of the members of the Defence Force took sick leave in one year, indicates poor discipline, low morale and costs the taxpayer money."
According to the 2002/2003 report, 42.2% of SANDF personnel took sick leave at a cost of R45 643 854.
More than 52% of the department's Public Service Act personnel took sick leave at a cost of R9 058 459. This totals R54 702 313.
In the same annual report, the Auditor-General mentioned that pressure on the defence budget negatively influenced the operational readiness, the morale and the working conditions in the SANDF.
Said Groenewald: "This confirms the low morale.
"The decision of the government to scale down defence force operations inside the country, in favour of peace keeping operations outside the country, is already taking its toll.
"Unless government acts swiftly and revises its policy regarding peace keeping operations, the situation in the defence force will deteriorate further."
The annual report was released with little fanfare about three weeks ago.
- SAPA